The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Why does Portland always play so well again LA? Lol
Watching this game you'd think they were a top 4 team in the West.
Watching this game you'd think they were a top 4 team in the West.
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Basketball Thread
- Thread starter Maaaaaaaaaan
- Start date
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Well it's also more of the fact LA has trouble winning in the Rose Garden. I think they are 2/15 in recent history? It's like trying to figure out why the Lakers kept losing to the Bobcats for the longest time.
Wow, Nash got hurt.
Wow, Nash got hurt.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Oh god this game is great!
theeboredone
Smash Legend
You know it's a 3 point party when MWP joins in.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Completely random but I just found out that some drunk kid jumped from an apartment window right across the street from my dorm and died. Probably some Halloween party going on and some kids were being stupid... what a shame. :\
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Halloween...at UT, things just went nuts. Especially downtown.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
LOL WTF is MWP doing out there??
Dude must think he's LeBron or something bringing the ball up the floor like that. lmao
Dude must think he's LeBron or something bringing the ball up the floor like that. lmao
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Yeah that guy can be a headcase.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Lillard... WOW this kid is the real deal!
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Man. 21 turnovers at the end of the third. God this offense is awful.
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Well, this game is certainly over. Curious to see what's up with Nash and how long I have to deal with this poor looking offense.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
No need to hit the panic button yet it's only 2 games. Hopefully Nash is okay.
Mike Brown really needs to work with his in game rotations they're really awful at times. The LA/LA game this Friday will be awesome!
Mike Brown really needs to work with his in game rotations they're really awful at times. The LA/LA game this Friday will be awesome!
Nike.
Smash Hero
Wtf, just got internet and checked my fantasy team and I have Lebron? lol
Must've had the first pick.
EDIT: And an injured Granger lol
Must've had the first pick.
EDIT: And an injured Granger lol
shadrach kabango
Banned via Warnings
My thoughts on each team in the NBA:
76ers: Jrue Holiday does not have anything close to elite potential. Just because you're young doesn't mean you have Tremendous Upside Potential. I hate Bill Simmons, but that's one of the things he really nailed.
Also: one of the most boring teams to watch offensively.
Toronto: Great coach in a terrible organization. Kyle Lowry is purty good.
Boston: I like teams that play hard. But the bench sucks, full of has-beens and never-was. Rondo-Bradley-Pierce-Bass-Garnett can compete with anyone. The bench is cover-your-eyes awful, though. Jason Terry is one of the most overrated players in the game. As a result the team remains dormant until the playoffs.
Brooklyn: The American Dream. How overrated is Deron Williams? The most recent comparable terrible season from an alleged star on a terrible team I can think of is Kobe in the Smush Parker/Chris Mihm era.
New York: The Wages of Wins projecting the Knicks to finish 1st in the Eastern Conference is the worst projection of anything I have ever seen. And they totally ignore it, too, as the author and creator of the projections says there are only three contending teams, two of which have < projected wins than the Knicks! That's why I appreciate WoW: They are spot-on or abjectly terrible, and never in between.
That said, this team would be so interesting if they went Chandler-Melo-who cares-who cares-Lin. As soon as they let Lin go this team became dead to me.
Cleveland: Fly-over team.
Indiana: O-VER-RAT-ED! I could see them missing the playoffs. Definitely have 0 shot at contending for anything. Also really boring to watch for a team tagged as young and up-coming. Black hole offensive players; no one can pass! Awful bench. Fly-over team.
Chicago: The most underrated team in the L. I think they win the division. Their bench kinda sucks, but in Thibodeau I Trust. Rose is overrated; Deng and Noah are just as good, if not better (I'll go with better) than him. Can't wait for Noah to have a huge season! One of my favorite players. Unbelievable how jacked he got. Such a hard worker.
Detroit: Fly-over team. Brandon Knight sucks. Why do so many NBA teams stick with ****ty PGs? I disagree with the perception that point guard is loaded. No, it's still very top heavy. You have keepers like Dragic, Lowry, Conley and Lin, sure. I love those guys. But then you have guys who should be bench-warmers like Knight, Jennings, Ellis, Hill, Collison, Holiday, and Wall... Mediocre to slightly-above-average players who will all get paid well above the MLE.
Milwaukee: Fly-over team. Contract this franchise. Hope Luc Richard Mbah a Moute gets traded to a real team. One of my favorite players in the L.
Miami: Are the Finals here yet? Probably my favorite team and organization in the NBA right now.
Washington: Contract this team.
Atlanta: I dunno why but I like 'em. They just keep chuggin' along. Plus they have Al Horford.
Charlotte: The media is nothing but thinly-veiled propaganda, Exhibit #4080: Where are all the articles about how terrible Michael Jordan is at everything but the 20 years of his life he spent playing basketball, including anything relating to managing basketball? Hero worship sickens me.
Orlando: Dead to me.
Utah: One of the most exciting franchises in basketball. One of the few teams that keeps me around. I love Hayward, Kanter, Favors, Millsap. I want to see more of Burks.
Portland: I hated Lillard until I saw Wages of Wins likes him. WoW is pretty good on prospects. Maybe I'm wrong. I hated him 'cuz Hollinger hates him, and brought up some good haterific points. Balancing the ledger is fun. LOL @ BEAT L.A.! chant. The Rose Garden will always bring some good haterade to the Lake Show. Batum is a good-looking young man.
Denver: Maybe WoW is right and George Karl is an idiot. Wilson Chandler always has and always will suck: can't shoot, can't pass and isn't explosive enough to isolate. In other words, he's Jeff Green. Corey Brewer? I like Brewer as an end-of-the-rotation piece, but c'mon! I worry Andre Miller's lost (another) step. If the Nuggets don't play Faried 33-35+ mpg, the stathead love of them possibly getting top seed goes right out the window. This is my favorite regular-season team for this season.
The NBA is all about the pick-and-roll, right? How come big men (usually centers) who can't finish don't get hammered for that by "experts"? JaVale McGee seems like he has potential, but one of the big reasons he doesn't is that he can't finish. If he could, then a decent defender + mobile finisher would be a piece worth locking up. Because he can't, you sell his upside to someone else or, if you have a HOF coach/organization/team, acquire him to coach him up. Hopefully Karl proves me wrong, but I doubt he can coach him up.
Personally, I would like to see the all-track NBA team. Go Favors-Faried-Iguodala-Gallo-Lawson as your five guys. Willingly get killed by the Andrew Bynums of the world inside. Play aggressive Memphis-like defense to generate as many easy buckets as possible. But do not help too much because you cannot give up too many 3s. Instead, give up more 2-point FGs in exchange for running down the court as fast as possible. Tire the Bynums out. They're not in good enough shape to keep up.
This works because against 2/3 of the team you have a huge advantage anyway, since everyone is going small ball. You only need to devise killer tactics vs 1/3 of the league (or fewer).
T'Wolves: Oh yeah, forgot about them. Okay, the Nuggets and T'Wolves are my favorite regular-season teams. But they're dead to me until Rubio/Love come back.
Thunder: One of the worst trades in NBA history.
Why would you trade Harden before Westbrook? The biggest black eye basketball has is how much it overrates scoring. I'll call it the Jordan Effect, a purposefully misnomer of a name considering Jordan was the most efficient high-volume scorer in NBA history.
Ty Lawson is better than Russell Westbrook and he got $12 mil/year. Westbrook is getting 15.5 million per year. The perception is that Westbrook is an All-NBA 1st Team talent/performer, and if you believe that, economic realities make clear that any player worthy of the max is inevitably underpaid by the max, meaning Westbrook would be extremely easy to trade for a Deron Williams-like bounty.
(Again: Westbrook for Rondo. I keep coming back to this trade because it makes so much sense. Who says no? It works so well for both teams and their perceived (and real) needs.)
Harden is the perfect NBA scorer. He has the requisite athleticism, so you know he can up his usage. He's shrewd enough to take the most efficient shots. And, most importantly, he is the best pick-and-roll ballhandler from the wing in the NBA. That is the most important part of the NBA! PICK AND ROLL! PICK AND ROLL IS EVERYTHING!
It is the one broken tactical aspect of the game. No amount of scheming can stop it when you have the requisite talent. And Harden is quite possibly the premier pick-and-roll creator in the game.
In one trade Sam Presti goes from "boy genius" to "full-of-himself overrated" while Daryl Morey regains the Stathead Crown that was in serious question. Aside from the terrible contract he handed out to Scola (and waiving Lin in the first place), he's hit on a lot of moves lately.
Golden State: How terrible is Stephen Curry's agent? How risk-averse is Stephen Curry? If you stay healthy you get the max. Guaranteed. You gain $16 million if you stay healthy. You lose, what, $21 million if you don't? (I'll project Steph to get the MLE for four years if he has ankle troubles similar to the past two seasons.)
Too bad David Lee is the worst player in the NBA.
Clippers: The biggest tease in the NBA. I don't like blue balls, so I choose to ignore them. But what if... Eric Bledsoe is the most underrated player in the NBA right now. He's taking over Harden's crown. Has way more upside than Jrue Holiday, lemme tell ya.
Phoenix: Who cares?
Lakers: Any stathead knew the Lakers were LOL overrated, but wow, they're even more overrated than we thought. Aren't they 0-11, preseason included? Preseason matters. Mike Brown and Kobe are going to get exposed this season. The funny part is they could easily be the second-best postseason team if they just milked Nash/Gasol/Howard to death, putting Kobe out to pasture (relatively speaking), but the Jordan Effect permeates this franchise like a skunk's perfume. It bears repeating: LOL.
Sacto: Contraction.
Spurs: It's like watching a close, wise relative die. It's graceful yet painful. R.I.P.
Oh, you mean the Thunder traded James Harden? rusrs.jpg
Okay, nevermind. The Spurs are the Western Conference favorite to win it all. Sweet!
Rockets: My third-favorite regular season team. Oh, who are we kidding, it goes like this:
0: Spurs: Always No. 1 as long as Poppovich-Duncan-Parker-GINOBILI!!!!11 are around.
1: Nuggets: The most realistic underdog story in the L.
2: T'Wolves: The second most realistic underdog story in the L.
3: Rockets: The third most realistic underdog story in the L.
4: Bulls: The fourth most... [insert pattern]
5: Jazz: [Insert pattern]
Mavs: Poor Dirk.
Hornets: Davis/Monty Williams get my **** hard. Alas, they too fall victim to the Jordan Effect (Gordon/Rivers). Gordon was the most obviously terrible max contract since Amare Stoudemire.
Grizzlies: The sixth most-likely underdog story in the L.
A major reason why the NBA is less fun to me the more I grow up and take off the rose-colored glasses: there is too much waste/inefficiency. Too many teams don't give a **** about the product or are otherwise totally clueless, but they luck into such fun pieces to watch (Kyle Lowry) within possibly the worst organization in basketball. Things are so mish-mashed and disharmonious.
In the end regular season basketball becomes worthless to watch because there are no surprises. It's just an endless distraction from reality. Even if a team does surprise, so what? If they're in theEastern Conference NBA, they're not beating the Heat.
The Western Conference is actually wide open, so that's interesting, but then say you follow the regular season. When you get to the playoffs, the whole script is flipped! What succeeds in the regular season is not what wins in the playoffs. The game is rigged. As Marla Daniels makes clear in The Wire, the only way to win is to not play the game.
See you guys in the playoffs. Maybe.
76ers: Jrue Holiday does not have anything close to elite potential. Just because you're young doesn't mean you have Tremendous Upside Potential. I hate Bill Simmons, but that's one of the things he really nailed.
Also: one of the most boring teams to watch offensively.
Toronto: Great coach in a terrible organization. Kyle Lowry is purty good.
Boston: I like teams that play hard. But the bench sucks, full of has-beens and never-was. Rondo-Bradley-Pierce-Bass-Garnett can compete with anyone. The bench is cover-your-eyes awful, though. Jason Terry is one of the most overrated players in the game. As a result the team remains dormant until the playoffs.
Brooklyn: The American Dream. How overrated is Deron Williams? The most recent comparable terrible season from an alleged star on a terrible team I can think of is Kobe in the Smush Parker/Chris Mihm era.
New York: The Wages of Wins projecting the Knicks to finish 1st in the Eastern Conference is the worst projection of anything I have ever seen. And they totally ignore it, too, as the author and creator of the projections says there are only three contending teams, two of which have < projected wins than the Knicks! That's why I appreciate WoW: They are spot-on or abjectly terrible, and never in between.
That said, this team would be so interesting if they went Chandler-Melo-who cares-who cares-Lin. As soon as they let Lin go this team became dead to me.
Cleveland: Fly-over team.
Indiana: O-VER-RAT-ED! I could see them missing the playoffs. Definitely have 0 shot at contending for anything. Also really boring to watch for a team tagged as young and up-coming. Black hole offensive players; no one can pass! Awful bench. Fly-over team.
Chicago: The most underrated team in the L. I think they win the division. Their bench kinda sucks, but in Thibodeau I Trust. Rose is overrated; Deng and Noah are just as good, if not better (I'll go with better) than him. Can't wait for Noah to have a huge season! One of my favorite players. Unbelievable how jacked he got. Such a hard worker.
Detroit: Fly-over team. Brandon Knight sucks. Why do so many NBA teams stick with ****ty PGs? I disagree with the perception that point guard is loaded. No, it's still very top heavy. You have keepers like Dragic, Lowry, Conley and Lin, sure. I love those guys. But then you have guys who should be bench-warmers like Knight, Jennings, Ellis, Hill, Collison, Holiday, and Wall... Mediocre to slightly-above-average players who will all get paid well above the MLE.
Milwaukee: Fly-over team. Contract this franchise. Hope Luc Richard Mbah a Moute gets traded to a real team. One of my favorite players in the L.
Miami: Are the Finals here yet? Probably my favorite team and organization in the NBA right now.
Washington: Contract this team.
Atlanta: I dunno why but I like 'em. They just keep chuggin' along. Plus they have Al Horford.
Charlotte: The media is nothing but thinly-veiled propaganda, Exhibit #4080: Where are all the articles about how terrible Michael Jordan is at everything but the 20 years of his life he spent playing basketball, including anything relating to managing basketball? Hero worship sickens me.
Orlando: Dead to me.
Utah: One of the most exciting franchises in basketball. One of the few teams that keeps me around. I love Hayward, Kanter, Favors, Millsap. I want to see more of Burks.
Portland: I hated Lillard until I saw Wages of Wins likes him. WoW is pretty good on prospects. Maybe I'm wrong. I hated him 'cuz Hollinger hates him, and brought up some good haterific points. Balancing the ledger is fun. LOL @ BEAT L.A.! chant. The Rose Garden will always bring some good haterade to the Lake Show. Batum is a good-looking young man.
Denver: Maybe WoW is right and George Karl is an idiot. Wilson Chandler always has and always will suck: can't shoot, can't pass and isn't explosive enough to isolate. In other words, he's Jeff Green. Corey Brewer? I like Brewer as an end-of-the-rotation piece, but c'mon! I worry Andre Miller's lost (another) step. If the Nuggets don't play Faried 33-35+ mpg, the stathead love of them possibly getting top seed goes right out the window. This is my favorite regular-season team for this season.
The NBA is all about the pick-and-roll, right? How come big men (usually centers) who can't finish don't get hammered for that by "experts"? JaVale McGee seems like he has potential, but one of the big reasons he doesn't is that he can't finish. If he could, then a decent defender + mobile finisher would be a piece worth locking up. Because he can't, you sell his upside to someone else or, if you have a HOF coach/organization/team, acquire him to coach him up. Hopefully Karl proves me wrong, but I doubt he can coach him up.
Personally, I would like to see the all-track NBA team. Go Favors-Faried-Iguodala-Gallo-Lawson as your five guys. Willingly get killed by the Andrew Bynums of the world inside. Play aggressive Memphis-like defense to generate as many easy buckets as possible. But do not help too much because you cannot give up too many 3s. Instead, give up more 2-point FGs in exchange for running down the court as fast as possible. Tire the Bynums out. They're not in good enough shape to keep up.
This works because against 2/3 of the team you have a huge advantage anyway, since everyone is going small ball. You only need to devise killer tactics vs 1/3 of the league (or fewer).
T'Wolves: Oh yeah, forgot about them. Okay, the Nuggets and T'Wolves are my favorite regular-season teams. But they're dead to me until Rubio/Love come back.
Thunder: One of the worst trades in NBA history.
Why would you trade Harden before Westbrook? The biggest black eye basketball has is how much it overrates scoring. I'll call it the Jordan Effect, a purposefully misnomer of a name considering Jordan was the most efficient high-volume scorer in NBA history.
Ty Lawson is better than Russell Westbrook and he got $12 mil/year. Westbrook is getting 15.5 million per year. The perception is that Westbrook is an All-NBA 1st Team talent/performer, and if you believe that, economic realities make clear that any player worthy of the max is inevitably underpaid by the max, meaning Westbrook would be extremely easy to trade for a Deron Williams-like bounty.
(Again: Westbrook for Rondo. I keep coming back to this trade because it makes so much sense. Who says no? It works so well for both teams and their perceived (and real) needs.)
Harden is the perfect NBA scorer. He has the requisite athleticism, so you know he can up his usage. He's shrewd enough to take the most efficient shots. And, most importantly, he is the best pick-and-roll ballhandler from the wing in the NBA. That is the most important part of the NBA! PICK AND ROLL! PICK AND ROLL IS EVERYTHING!
It is the one broken tactical aspect of the game. No amount of scheming can stop it when you have the requisite talent. And Harden is quite possibly the premier pick-and-roll creator in the game.
In one trade Sam Presti goes from "boy genius" to "full-of-himself overrated" while Daryl Morey regains the Stathead Crown that was in serious question. Aside from the terrible contract he handed out to Scola (and waiving Lin in the first place), he's hit on a lot of moves lately.
Golden State: How terrible is Stephen Curry's agent? How risk-averse is Stephen Curry? If you stay healthy you get the max. Guaranteed. You gain $16 million if you stay healthy. You lose, what, $21 million if you don't? (I'll project Steph to get the MLE for four years if he has ankle troubles similar to the past two seasons.)
Too bad David Lee is the worst player in the NBA.
Clippers: The biggest tease in the NBA. I don't like blue balls, so I choose to ignore them. But what if... Eric Bledsoe is the most underrated player in the NBA right now. He's taking over Harden's crown. Has way more upside than Jrue Holiday, lemme tell ya.
Phoenix: Who cares?
Lakers: Any stathead knew the Lakers were LOL overrated, but wow, they're even more overrated than we thought. Aren't they 0-11, preseason included? Preseason matters. Mike Brown and Kobe are going to get exposed this season. The funny part is they could easily be the second-best postseason team if they just milked Nash/Gasol/Howard to death, putting Kobe out to pasture (relatively speaking), but the Jordan Effect permeates this franchise like a skunk's perfume. It bears repeating: LOL.
Sacto: Contraction.
Spurs: It's like watching a close, wise relative die. It's graceful yet painful. R.I.P.
Oh, you mean the Thunder traded James Harden? rusrs.jpg
Okay, nevermind. The Spurs are the Western Conference favorite to win it all. Sweet!
Rockets: My third-favorite regular season team. Oh, who are we kidding, it goes like this:
0: Spurs: Always No. 1 as long as Poppovich-Duncan-Parker-GINOBILI!!!!11 are around.
1: Nuggets: The most realistic underdog story in the L.
2: T'Wolves: The second most realistic underdog story in the L.
3: Rockets: The third most realistic underdog story in the L.
4: Bulls: The fourth most... [insert pattern]
5: Jazz: [Insert pattern]
Mavs: Poor Dirk.
Hornets: Davis/Monty Williams get my **** hard. Alas, they too fall victim to the Jordan Effect (Gordon/Rivers). Gordon was the most obviously terrible max contract since Amare Stoudemire.
Grizzlies: The sixth most-likely underdog story in the L.
A major reason why the NBA is less fun to me the more I grow up and take off the rose-colored glasses: there is too much waste/inefficiency. Too many teams don't give a **** about the product or are otherwise totally clueless, but they luck into such fun pieces to watch (Kyle Lowry) within possibly the worst organization in basketball. Things are so mish-mashed and disharmonious.
In the end regular season basketball becomes worthless to watch because there are no surprises. It's just an endless distraction from reality. Even if a team does surprise, so what? If they're in the
The Western Conference is actually wide open, so that's interesting, but then say you follow the regular season. When you get to the playoffs, the whole script is flipped! What succeeds in the regular season is not what wins in the playoffs. The game is rigged. As Marla Daniels makes clear in The Wire, the only way to win is to not play the game.
See you guys in the playoffs. Maybe.
shadrach kabango
Banned via Warnings
Have a nice day!
soap
Smash Hero
haha, damn that was cold
Kyrie is fun to watch. Dion Waiters looks ok, and Varejao had like 23 rebounds the other night.
but I'm from Cleveland, and even I skipped half the game to watch Miami Boston
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
@Shadrach
http://wagesofwins.com/2012/11/01/the-truth-behind-russell-westbrooks-greatness/
I'm not understanding that article's argument that you posted in terms of how Lawson is a better player than Westbrook, particularly the "points over par" segment.
So based off of what that article is saying I'm supposed to believe that the Thunder would immediately be a better team if they traded Westbrook for Ty Lawson? What?
Seems like a lot of it has to do with efficiency (correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know what the article means by having a "bad game." I'm guessing a "bad game" means a poor FG% or something?), which is one of the most overrated stats in basketball in my opinion. Kobe has never been the most efficient player ever but a lot of that has to do with the fact that he is always forced to carry the scoring load and put up more shots while dealing with tougher defenses (opposing teams will plan their entire defensive schemes around specific scoring threats), which translates to a lower efficiency. Efficient players take better shots more often but that doesn't mean they're guaranteed to score more points if given the same amount of attempts as a volume scorer. Great offensive players are able to consistently score a lot of points WHILE being efficient (see: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dirk, etc). Westbrook overall is a much bigger scoring threat than Ty Lawson, and he averages only 1.1 less assists per game. Both are great defenders.
That's not even my main gripe though... The article compares Westbrook and Lawson in terms of how many wins they net their respective teams when they're playing well or not. That statistic is 100% team dependent. All it proves is how important a player is to his respective team, not how GOOD that player is. The Heat's overall production takes a bigger hit when Chris Bosh isn't on the floor vs. when Wade isn't on the floor... Does that mean Chris Bosh is a better overall player than Dwyane Wade?
Then the article closes by saying if Westbrook is indeed better than Lawson offensively, then it must mean that the rest of Denver's cast (Afflalo, Gallinari, Harrington, etc) must be better offensively than the rest of OKC's (Durant, Harden, Ibaka, etc) since both teams had very similar offensive ratings last season. The not so obvious answer is yes... The Thunder (minus Westbrook) only had a measly three players that averaged at least 8 points per game last season cause they're top heavy as ****. How many did Denver (minus Lawson) have? Over THREE TIMES that number... Try ten players. THAT'S why the Nuggets are just as good offensively as the Thunder. It has very little to do with Lawson being a better PG than Westbrook. It has a LOT to do with the Thunder being top heavy and the Nuggets being the deepest team in the NBA. So yes I'm going with "option 2." That whole "points over par" metric is flawed.
http://wagesofwins.com/2012/11/01/the-truth-behind-russell-westbrooks-greatness/
I'm not understanding that article's argument that you posted in terms of how Lawson is a better player than Westbrook, particularly the "points over par" segment.
So based off of what that article is saying I'm supposed to believe that the Thunder would immediately be a better team if they traded Westbrook for Ty Lawson? What?
Seems like a lot of it has to do with efficiency (correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know what the article means by having a "bad game." I'm guessing a "bad game" means a poor FG% or something?), which is one of the most overrated stats in basketball in my opinion. Kobe has never been the most efficient player ever but a lot of that has to do with the fact that he is always forced to carry the scoring load and put up more shots while dealing with tougher defenses (opposing teams will plan their entire defensive schemes around specific scoring threats), which translates to a lower efficiency. Efficient players take better shots more often but that doesn't mean they're guaranteed to score more points if given the same amount of attempts as a volume scorer. Great offensive players are able to consistently score a lot of points WHILE being efficient (see: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dirk, etc). Westbrook overall is a much bigger scoring threat than Ty Lawson, and he averages only 1.1 less assists per game. Both are great defenders.
That's not even my main gripe though... The article compares Westbrook and Lawson in terms of how many wins they net their respective teams when they're playing well or not. That statistic is 100% team dependent. All it proves is how important a player is to his respective team, not how GOOD that player is. The Heat's overall production takes a bigger hit when Chris Bosh isn't on the floor vs. when Wade isn't on the floor... Does that mean Chris Bosh is a better overall player than Dwyane Wade?
Then the article closes by saying if Westbrook is indeed better than Lawson offensively, then it must mean that the rest of Denver's cast (Afflalo, Gallinari, Harrington, etc) must be better offensively than the rest of OKC's (Durant, Harden, Ibaka, etc) since both teams had very similar offensive ratings last season. The not so obvious answer is yes... The Thunder (minus Westbrook) only had a measly three players that averaged at least 8 points per game last season cause they're top heavy as ****. How many did Denver (minus Lawson) have? Over THREE TIMES that number... Try ten players. THAT'S why the Nuggets are just as good offensively as the Thunder. It has very little to do with Lawson being a better PG than Westbrook. It has a LOT to do with the Thunder being top heavy and the Nuggets being the deepest team in the NBA. So yes I'm going with "option 2." That whole "points over par" metric is flawed.
Nike.
Smash Hero
ahchoomattchu
Smash Ace
Damn, I love my Spurs.
And LOL @ Westbrook tonight.
And LOL @ Westbrook tonight.
o-Serin-o
I think 56 nights crazy
Damn, I was hoping I'd get to post this first.
theeboredone
Smash Legend
Pretty much how my full court ball games go...
Jane
Smash Hero
tony parker with the killer 3s, i love it. the spurs are awesome. i am salty that okc defeated them last year because of the simple fact that bored said spurs match up against miami better.
does TP historically not shoot 3s? is this a new thing? because if it is, and even though its only rarely, the spurs just got even scarier.
also, is the miami @ knicks game getting postponed also? or wtf?
does TP historically not shoot 3s? is this a new thing? because if it is, and even though its only rarely, the spurs just got even scarier.
also, is the miami @ knicks game getting postponed also? or wtf?
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Nope the Miami game is happenin and it's happenin tonight! Two great great games to look forward to.
theeboredone
Smash Legend
TP is historically not a good 3 point shooter, so it might be something he added to his arsenal. At the same time, I've seen players demonstrate something new to start the season, btu have it fade in terms of performance throughout the season. A good example would be how Shannon Brown in 2011 shot 45% from 3 for the first 20 or so games and finished the season around 35%. So we'll see how TP does.
And yeah, I did say the Spurs matched up better against Miami. More balanced rather than being top heavy. Kawhi Leonard looks like he's gonna be a great defender for years to come. That steal he made on KD in the waning moments was great D. Though KD should have been so lazy with handling the ball.
This year, I think Lakers can beat Heat assuming they get things together, but OKC will beat LA still without Harden.
Edit: TRG approves
http://tiny.cc/hhp5mw
And yeah, I did say the Spurs matched up better against Miami. More balanced rather than being top heavy. Kawhi Leonard looks like he's gonna be a great defender for years to come. That steal he made on KD in the waning moments was great D. Though KD should have been so lazy with handling the ball.
This year, I think Lakers can beat Heat assuming they get things together, but OKC will beat LA still without Harden.
Edit: TRG approves
http://tiny.cc/hhp5mw
Jane
Smash Hero
laker heat finals would be a wet dream. battle of the hated teams.
also, yeah, kawhi leonard is a rising star. once he develops his offensive confidence, hes going to be key spur for the next decade.
i wonder who would win a 1v1 between kawhi and iman shumpert...
also, yeah, kawhi leonard is a rising star. once he develops his offensive confidence, hes going to be key spur for the next decade.
i wonder who would win a 1v1 between kawhi and iman shumpert...
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Oh Rondo... forever bitter.
If you guys didn't know who Steve Nash was would you believe me if I told you this guy was a 2 time NBA MVP? If you say yes you're lying through your teeth.
If you guys didn't know who Steve Nash was would you believe me if I told you this guy was a 2 time NBA MVP? If you say yes you're lying through your teeth.
theeboredone
Smash Legend
man card has been
edit: skip and Stephen a hating on westbrook. don't get the hate on the pass that kd played soft on.
edit: skip and Stephen a hating on westbrook. don't get the hate on the pass that kd played soft on.
Jane
Smash Hero
nash looks like a ****ing boss.
and in other news... here comes the ****...
i just hope the boys keep it within.. lets say, 12? yeah.
shump's flattop is insane. that thing is like 5 inches off his head lmao. but why isnt he suited up D:
felton hasnt been ****ing up. imokaywiththis.jpg
cory brewer doing cute things as well. wow, i'm pleasantly surprised. still really early though but already theyre gelling way better than boston did.
and in other news... here comes the ****...
i just hope the boys keep it within.. lets say, 12? yeah.
shump's flattop is insane. that thing is like 5 inches off his head lmao. but why isnt he suited up D:
felton hasnt been ****ing up. imokaywiththis.jpg
cory brewer doing cute things as well. wow, i'm pleasantly surprised. still really early though but already theyre gelling way better than boston did.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Did you not keep up with the off-season? Shumperts been out with injuries.
Hot_ArmS
Smash Hero
16 PTs in 1st quarter damn
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Carmelo is still in Olympics mode.
Wade looks god awful so far.
And the Knicks are unconscious from 3 lol.
Wade looks god awful so far.
And the Knicks are unconscious from 3 lol.
Jane
Smash Hero
LOOOOL WTF IS GOING ON. i left to go pick up my car from the mechanic to THIS?! hahahah what
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
I'm not liking the Heat's defensive effort tonight at all. They're aggressively trapping whoever brings up the ball and then they're slow on their rotations which keeps leading to easy wide open shots for the Knicks. If they're gonna keep trapping then they need to step it up on the rotations.
Offense will be fine too much offensive potential for the team to remain cold all night.
EDIT: Oh my god Harden's doing it again!! 28 points at the end of the 3rd quarter is this guy the real deal??
I'm pretty baffled at how lazy the entire team looks tonight. No defensive effort at all. I mean seriously how do you allow a team to shoot 15/30 from the three point line? Their shooters have been wide open all night. One of the worst efforts I've ever seen from this team.
This game brings entirely new meaning to the word "coasting." lol
Offense will be fine too much offensive potential for the team to remain cold all night.
EDIT: Oh my god Harden's doing it again!! 28 points at the end of the 3rd quarter is this guy the real deal??
I'm pretty baffled at how lazy the entire team looks tonight. No defensive effort at all. I mean seriously how do you allow a team to shoot 15/30 from the three point line? Their shooters have been wide open all night. One of the worst efforts I've ever seen from this team.
This game brings entirely new meaning to the word "coasting." lol
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Not just winning they're getting crushing the Heat. Like I said earlier I'm not sure if I've seen the Heat look so lazy before.
Wade really wasn't kidding when he said he didn't want to play tonight. Looked like the entire team adopted that mentality.
Wade really wasn't kidding when he said he didn't want to play tonight. Looked like the entire team adopted that mentality.
Jane
Smash Hero
and the hornets just beat the utah in a super close game! austin rivers is a ****ing moron though.
also orlando took a dump on denver! this season is gonna be a great one boys.
also orlando took a dump on denver! this season is gonna be a great one boys.
The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Yeah this might be the first NBA season in a while where there might be quite a bit of parity. As good as the top teams are a lot of the other teams have gotten better as well.
Should be an exciting season.
One bright spot about tonight: Rashard Lewis looks fantastic. Hope to see more of him throughout the season.
Should be an exciting season.
One bright spot about tonight: Rashard Lewis looks fantastic. Hope to see more of him throughout the season.